Jury Chai, Independent Mon News Agency – About 300 workers at Watana Footwear Co., Ltd., returned to work today as the situation returned to normal after their employer at the factory agreed to increase salaries by fifteen baht per day following negotiations mediated by the Thailand Burma Border Committee.
The shoe-making factory workers began a protest on 12 July, demanding a wage increase of fifteen baht per day like migrant workers involved in recent protests at nearby factories. The factory is situated on Thai soil near the Thailand-Burma border area of Three Pagodas Pass.
A labor leader said, “While other factory workers already had their salaries increased by fifteen baht per day, our workers did not. We followed the same suit of workers at the other factories, and demanded an increase of fifteen baht per day. If not, we declined to work. As a result, now our employers have agreed to the increase.”
Currently, the situation at the factory is normal, and the silence of nearly a week is broken. The workers entered the factory in the early morning and left in the evening.
The problem was settled after the Thailand Burma Border Committee got involved in negotiations between employers and employees on 16 July. The committee is formed with Burmese and Thai government officials. The committee deals not only in workers’ issues, but also for other cases of population migration, border trade, and culture exchange.
Recently, many Burmese migrant factory workers working for Thai factories in Three Pagodas Pass, Kanchanaburi Province of Thailand, have been involved in protests calling for an increase to their wages. Workers expressed that the 1,500 baht ($50 US) wage they receive bi-weekly is not enough to buy food for their families, as the prices of all commodities are increasing in Thailand.
“The fifteen baht increase is just for house rent and food costs. We still do not have sufficient money for water and electricity,” a worker said.
The workers said it is good to have the fifteen baht per day wage increase, but they are still unable to buy any extra things like household materials, or have extra month for entertainment.
Many workers rent rooms in Three Pagodas Pass (Phaya Thon Zu) town with four-to-ten workers staying in one room to save money. They share the costs of the room and other expenses.
The workers travel from Burma (Myanmar) to Thailand every morning between 7 to 9 o’clock in the morning, and return to Burma at around 5 to 6 o’clock in the evening. The Companies and Border Committee issues ‘travel permit’ cards to every worker, with their names, photos, and names of their employing factories.
These migrant workers do not need to apply for work permits and temporary passports like many Burmese migrant workers working deeper in Thailand because they do not live in Thailand.
